Honestly, I probably don’t listen to my coach as much as I should. Since the beginning I’ve always had self-concocted approaches to training, most of which center on finding the best short cut. But after doing 9 podcasts with Coach Robbie, I think reality is starting to sink in.
My first Ironman was in 2013 at Wisconsin and was roughly 18 months after I started running for the first time in my life. I raced as a 50-year-old that year and, while I didn’t tell anyone, I secretly thought I would pull a rabbit out of my hat and qualify for Kona. Wrong.
I did pretty well and wound up around 30th in my age group of 200, but that is exactly where I have remained for the last 3 Ironman attempts. I can’t break that Ironman Ceiling (or wall as displayed in this graphic).
Four years later, I’m starting to get the picture.
In reality, I probably trained the hardest for my first Ironman. It was all about building a base and that’s exactly what I did. In the years since then, I’ve started my base-building-phase way too late and put in far less mileage.
I’ve also put in a ton of “in the middle” type pace efforts which are neither slow nor fast. Most of my runs for example are targeted to be around 8:30’s because I thought if I could make that feel easy, I could do it in the race. Wrong.
So, what about being in solid shape before you start building your base and actually taking advantage of that base with focused training to get to the next level? There’s a concept.
My goal this year is to qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship. I hope to do so in May on the same course in Chattanooga. Typically I’d wait for my 8-10 week wake-up-call, then go down and hope it comes together. Not this time.
It’s early December and my entire focus is on building up to base training so I can put in some heavy chassis work starting in January. The question is, how?
On today’s podcast, Coach made it simple. He said, “Just do something every day. It can be in a swim, bike, run rotation, with some strength training. Take a day off if you need it, but also start adding two-a-days when you feel up to it.”
I do think a lot of time we get caught up in the numbers but in reality, it’s about being in position to build yourself to the next level. And that probably never stops if you want to reach a place you’ve been talking about but can’t seem to get there.
We go into that a lot deeper in this podcast. You’ll also find out:
– How To Win A Free Coaching Consultation
– How To Prep Your Body To Start The Season
– If Your Base Training Has Plateaued
– How to break through 15+ Slots In Your Race
– What it really takes to make an Ironman Podium
– To Prepare Your Body For the Next Phase
– If you’re lost in the numbers
– To Break Race Prep Into Blocks
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- Friday Five
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